This is the second blog of our series on building private sector resilience. The first blog in this series, Building Private Sector Resilience to Support Smallholders , explored the vulnerabilities many for-profit businesses face and how strengthening them also helps strengthen smallholder farmer’s...

The Feed the Future Mozambique Agricultural Innovations Activity (Feed the Future Inova) is an example of applying information about gendered decision-making and norms to increase women’s access to technology. In Mozambique’s agricultural sector, the use of improved agricultural inputs is low. The...

In Swahili, the word “Daima” means “last forever.” That is why Nasujuu Lufle Gambare (Rose), Marian Galgithele and Ntubulwa Lekapina chose the name “Daima” for their butchery business in Loglogo in remote northern Kenya. Their dream was to start something that would last forever. They never...

Ten years ago, plant pathologists Richard Strange and Peter Scott founded the journal "Food Security—the Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food" in response to Norman Borlaug’s challenge to "do more for food security." This seminar will take a look back over the last...

Interventions and innovation can lower the price of individual foods, but healthy eating depends on access to a mix of foods from diverse sources. How has the overall cost of meeting dietary needs changed over time worldwide, and in Africa and South Asia specifically? What determines the cost of a...

IFPRI and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) recently completed a joint stock taking study of IFPRI’s experience with country programs and its more general policy of outposting research staff to developing countries. Several reports have been produced as part of...

The explosive growth of cities all over the world has led to major shifts in diets, with serious consequences for the health and nutrition of the urban poor, especially in rapidly urbanizing low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia. To reverse this trend, we must take into account the...

Tom Lalampaa, CEO of the Northern Rangelands Trust , remembers, “When I was a child, the grasslands here were in very good condition. But there were fewer people then, and fewer livestock than there are now.”

The USAID Feed the Future Learning Community for Supply Chain Resilience is happy to share the launch of a new website aimed to provide coffee companies with the resources they need to combat climate change. The Climate Smart Coffee website, launched in early May, was created to increase private...

Growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is an important goal for USAID and many donors, but evidence on what works is still emerging. This webinar will be hosted by USAID's Office of Trade & Regulatory Reform as they launch a report, Theories of Change: High-Growth SME Development. Natalie...

This is the second blog of our series on building private sector resilience. The first blog in this series, Building Private Sector Resilience to Support Smallholders , explored the vulnerabilities many for-profit businesses face and how strengthening them also helps strengthen smallholder farmer’s...

The Feed the Future Mozambique Agricultural Innovations Activity (Feed the Future Inova) is an example of applying information about gendered decision-making and norms to increase women’s access to technology. In Mozambique’s agricultural sector, the use of improved agricultural inputs is low. The...

In Swahili, the word “Daima” means “last forever.” That is why Nasujuu Lufle Gambare (Rose), Marian Galgithele and Ntubulwa Lekapina chose the name “Daima” for their butchery business in Loglogo in remote northern Kenya. Their dream was to start something that would last forever. They never...

Tom Lalampaa, CEO of the Northern Rangelands Trust , remembers, “When I was a child, the grasslands here were in very good condition. But there were fewer people then, and fewer livestock than there are now.”

The USAID Feed the Future Learning Community for Supply Chain Resilience is happy to share the launch of a new website aimed to provide coffee companies with the resources they need to combat climate change. The Climate Smart Coffee website, launched in early May, was created to increase private...

Growth in Mali’s agriculture sector dropped following a civil war beginning in 2012. After five years, however, the country is normalizing and development actors around the world are re-focusing interventions, prompting them to revisit and redevelop strategies from 2012 in the context of 2019. To...

In 2015, amongst fields of tomatoes, cucurbits, and other vegetables, the IPM Innovation Lab conducted a training in Nepal. It was not long before the team made the distressing discovery that almost 100 percent of the crops were virus-infected...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking concept notes for a cooperative agreement from qualified U.S. organizations to fund a program entitled Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk, and Resilience . Funding Opportunity Number: 7200AA19RFA00009 Funding...

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Legume Systems is seeking cutting-edge legume systems research proposals for Area of Inquiry 1 - Integration of legumes into sustainable smallholder farming systems and agricultural landscapes. The deadline for submission of concept notes is May 20, 2019. For...

Samir Regmi said that due to his partnership with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management , his small agribusiness in Nepal is “renowned” for selling quality bio-pesticides, insect traps, and other Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions. Regmi’s business is not the...

Efforts to build smallholder farmers’ resiliency are now crucial, as many face unprecedented shocks caused by climate change and widespread pests and diseases. As development practitioners, how can we most cost effectively and sustainably promote smallholder resilience to reduce global hunger,...

Women lead approximately one-third of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets, but remain disproportionately underserved. They often face less favorable terms for financing and limited access to essential resources needed to build, sustain and grow their businesses. In fact,...

Although it might seem surprising, many Kenyan farmers, entrepreneurs and investors are intensely interested in the preparation of new regulations on the production and marketing of planting materials for vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs), such as potato and sweet potato. The new regulations may...

Sometimes, market systems inhibit productivity growth and depress livelihoods. Sometimes, there is too much market access for too many kinds of business, so too little is done to tackle problems of stagnant productivity and declining incomes for poor producers.

Research and project evaluations frequently cite access to greater quantities and higher quality of feed as limiting factors to livestock production levels worldwide. Pasture grazing has been the traditional approach to livestock rearing, but land use has begun to shift.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access has just launched a new project in partnership with the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) to improve the quality of agricultural index insurance available to the nation’s small-scale farmers.

How can we understand the AgResults prize competition model as a driver for private sector-led inclusive market systems development? This webinar will look at how the model can strengthen market systems to sustainably improve the lives of smallholder farmers. It will reflect on AgResults’ efforts...

The USAID Bureau for Food Security's Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Division invites you to the fourth installment in our Feed the Future MEL Webinar Series . New Indicators: Sales, finance, and investment indicators In October 2017, a revised set of Feed the Future indicators was...

Agriculture is an inherently risky activity. This risk exposure can make and keep farmers poor. Agricultural index insurance can help farmers avoid costly coping mechanisms and unlock opportunities for increased investment and greater resilience, but such positive development impacts largely depend...

Improving staple crop production is widely viewed as crucial for increasing food security and reducing poverty in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). However, smallholder households in SSA who cultivate maize and other grains face two major post‐harvest challenges. First, pests cause post‐harvest loss of up...

Despite the potential for intra-regional trade of grains to improve food security in sub-Saharan Africa, in practice, these commercial transactions have been fraught with logistics challenges and non-tariff barriers. USAID's Trade and Investment Hubs are working to overcome these issues in...

Investing in resilience and a more proactive response to avert humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa could reduce the cost to international donors by 30 percent, while also protecting billions of dollars of income and assets for households and communities impacted by droughts.

USAID LandLinks is working to support private sector partners to de-risk investments and secure legitimate land rights in order to improve livelihoods and other outcomes for communities affected by investments. Join us, along with Agrilinks, Microlinks , and a panel of experts, for an interactive...

As smallholder-based agricultural systems struggle to adapt to rapid changes in weather and other factors, this discussion will present lessons and approaches on aligning private sector investment with the research and donor community.

Join our upcoming Ask Ag online chat where financing institution experts and field practitioners will delve into the complexities of access to finance, as well as examine key factors for success, best practices and lessons learned.

s productivity increases and regional tariff barriers are eliminated, Sanitary-Phytosanitary (SPS) issues are rising to greater prominence, given their impact on public health and agriculture and food systems. This webinar will present the findings of the USAID Leveraging Economic Opportunities (...

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